Chat Between Chapters: What are your favorite books/audiobooks that you read in 2025?

For this discussion post, we are joining the Tell Me Something Tuesday challenge run by Jen at That’s What I’m Talking About. Here’s the topic for this week. Also linking this up to the relevant Top Ten Tuesday ran by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

What are your favorite books/audiobooks that you read in 2025? 

 Julie:

So I read A LOT of books this year. Some were flops, some were fabs. If they made it to this list, that means these are books I have thought about long after I finished them. Maybe they weren’t finished with me. These are my top books of the year:

1. 1. Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1) – Just hilarious and dark and twisted and a great audiobook
   2. Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, Onyx Storm (The Empyrean) – With the first two being re-reads on fabulous graphic audio!
   3. The Awakening, Ruthless Fae, The Reckoning, Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy #1-4) – I’ve only read to book 4 and I have a love/hate with this series. Peak emotional damage. Waiting for audios of the rest to be made.
   4. Sunrise on the Reaping, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games) – both are must reads as part of this beloved series. I did the physical book for both (gasp)!
   5. A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) – Yes, I finally picked this series back up, and completed it this year. This book is the best of all of them obviously. I did all of these on regular audio but considering trying the graphic audio.
   6. Quicksilver and Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy) – Just, Kingfisher, OK? Fabulous audio.
   7. Wicked Sea and Sky (Curse of Ever, #1) – This was an ARC that absolutely blew me away with the story and the yearning and everything and got me back into collecting ARCs faster than I can breathe.
   8. Vicious Princess (The Trials of Death and Honor, #1) – Another very much enjoyable ARC and I hope the next one comes my way soon.
   9. Bloody Black – Another ARC, fabulous female rage and revenge with pirate gender bend retelling. Very enjoyable. Check triggers.
   10. Oaths & Vengeance (Realm of Zadrya, #1) – Another ARC, looking forward to book 2. What a fun world with great characters and sentient plants.
   11. The House in the Cerulean Sea (Cerulean Chronicles, #1) – Do yourself a favor and give this a listen on Spotify Stories Beyond the Stars playlist. Free available through January.

 

 

 

Lynn:

In no particular order:

1. Sisters in the Wind. I will read ANY book Angeline Boulley writes. Even if they emotionally destroy me.
2. Project Hail Mary: Still amazing with a re-read. Getting ready for the movie!
3. House in the Cerulean Sea: What Julie said. And this was a third time I’ve listened.
4. Fourth Wing: Another re-read. And now that I’ve experienced graphic audio, I can’t go back.
5. Brimstone: no words. Didn’t love Quicksilver. But REALLY loved this one.
6. Killers of a Certain Age: I loved that this one has female main characters that are not in their teens or twenties but still vibrant and active.
7. Starbound Series (These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, Their Fractured Light): Filling that Illuminae \ Aurora Cycle empty spot in my heart.
8. Just One Damned Thing After Another: Time Travel. Dinosaurs. A bit of romance. Reminds me I need to pick up the next one in this series!
9. The Jewel of the Isle: One of the best rom-coms I’ve read in a while (in addition to Blonde Identity). Audio narration was on-point. Actual laugh out loud moments.
10. Starter Villain: Scalzi is a great author. I love the premise here of inheriting what you think is a normal parking garage empire to find out that it’s really an criminal empire. HILARIOUS.

Some of the books on Julie’s list are also favs (Sunrise on the Reaping, Butcher & Blackbird). Good choices all around!

 

 

We are also linking up our discussion posts with the 2025 Book Blog Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!

Subscribe to Chapter Break posts.